Eric Petersen

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Do Worry, Be Unhappy ... And Live Longer!

by Eric,posted Mar 15 2011 11:04AM

If you're one of those people (the kind that drive me nuts) who always looks on the sunny side of life ... stop, it might be killing you!
A study has determined that people who are more optimistic and cheerful have shorter lives than the grouches like me. In their book The Longevity Project, the authors try to make us un-learn some advice we've lived with for ages, such as:

Turn that frown upside-down. Study participants who were the most cheerful lived shorter lives, on average. Why? They took more risks and were less likely to pay close attention to health issues.
Look on the bright side. Optimists are far more likely to drink, smoke and eat badly.

Learn to take it easy and don't work so hard. This is rotten advice -- the stress that comes from an ambitious career can be beneficial to health.

Worrying is bad for you. There are lots of instances where worrying was healthy, especially for men.]

A good marriage adds years to your life. Not for women. Guys lived longer if they stayed hitched, but women who got divorced and never re-married lived just as long, if not longer.

So let me ask you: On a scale of one to 10, how happy are you with your life, in general? What would get you to improve that score? What's keeping it so low?
Does your mood pretty much stay the same throughout each day, every day? Or... Are you all over the map? What causes your moods to go up and down? Are you comfortable with this? Or... Do you wish you did a better job of staying even?